A longing that I've never known
by amber-goddess
Summary: Jack Skellington has been searching for something his whole life. He didn't realise that it had been right in front of him the whole time... (Jack/Sally)


"Oh, somewhere deep inside of these bones  
  
An emptiness began to grow  
  
There's something out there, far from my home  
  
A longing that I've never known" - Jack Skellington  
  
-------------------------------------------------  
  
The graveyard was at its most beautiful.  
  
A harvest moon, full and creamy yellow, shone ghostly pale against the starless sky. Twisted stone mausoleums jutted from the cold earth like broken teeth, crooked tombs choked by snaking ropes of ivy. The distant lights of Halloween Town glowed eerily against the darkness. The graveyard was, in fact, a little removed from the actual town itself. Perhaps this was part of the reason why Jack spent so much time here. There were times when he just felt the need to escape --- to get away from it all --- those were the times when he felt the pull of the graveyard. Its deathly silence somehow always soothed his troubled mind.  
  
He felt its inexplicable lure drawing him now. Warped iron gates swinging open with a hoarse squeal, the brittle grass crunching under his soft tread, the pumpkin king picked his way delicately between the gravestones. His boney hands were clasped behind his back and his head was raised to gaze dreamily at the moon. As was usual when he visited this place, his features were pulled in a look of deep thought.  
  
Zero floated by his side, giving the occasional yip to show that he was still there. Every one in a while he would glide away to investigate an interesting effigy, but would always return moments later, barking. Jack paid him little attention. He had known Zero long enough to know that he would follow wherever his nose led him --- it didn't concern him. He had more important matters on his mind.  
  
His feet knew the route by heart, and without even realizing it, he had reached the top of his hill. For Jack Skellington, there was no place in the world that he felt more at home. Caught somewhere between the earth and the sky, this was the one place where he was truly free. No need to impress, no need for his weary façade --- here he could just be himself.  
  
With a heavy sigh, he dropped to the floor, seating himself on the crest of the hill. He rested his boney chin against a skeletal fist and frowned. Zero, who had been sniffing around a nearby vault, floated to his side and gave a questioning yap.  
  
Jack turned to look at him. "Oh Zero," he sighed again, reaching out to run a hand over the dog's transparent neck, "How could I have been so blind?"  
  
If Zero had words, he might have pointed out his master's complete lack of eyeballs as a reason. However, he was a dog, and so remained silent.  
  
"All my life I've been longing for something that I couldn't explain --- that I didn't understand. I was always searching for something to fill the void, but no matter what I did, nothing ever seemed to work. Do you know understand I mean?"  
  
Zero looked at him sorrowfully.  
  
Jack gave a sad smile and shook his head. "No --- of course you don't." He leaned back to rest his spindly elbows against the cold ground. The moon shone high above his head, cold and gleaming. A meditative frown crossed his features as he gazed heavenward. "She was in front of me the whole time, Zero. And I was so busy looking that I didn't see what was right before my very eyes."  
  
It was true - he realized that now. For as long as he could remember, Jack Skellington had always felt a sense of incompletion --- of dissatisfaction. For many years he had been able to simply ignore it, but the time came when his gnawing discontent had become too much to overlook. He had longed in secret -- dreaming atop his lonely hill -- always searching for something to fill the empty space in his soul. But nothing he had done had ever helped, and Jack remained alone --- retreating further and further within himself.  
  
And, for the longest time, he had though that that was how it always would be.  
  
But then something most --- unprecedented, had occurred. Jack had stumbled into the Christmas world.  
  
The weeks that followed had been a chaotic blur, and, for the first time in a long time, Jack had been happy. Brining about a new holiday took a lot of organizing, and he had been in his element.  
  
And yet the feeling had never quite gone away. Christmas had been a welcome distraction - one which he had hoped would rid him of his lingering gloom. For a while, it had worked. In the rush and excitement, he almost managed to forget. It had been a good feeling.  
  
Well, the Christmas thing hadn't exactly worked to plan. Jack realized now how foolish he was to try and be something that he wasn't. He had put the entire season at jeopardy --- and all because he wasn't content. If Sally hadn't seen what was happening and stepped in before it was too late, he didn't even like to think about what might have happened.  
  
Sally.  
  
Sally. The soft eyed, red haired girl that drifted through Halloween Town as though in a world of her own. He had known her of course; they were good acquaintances in fact. He had rather enjoyed her company. But there had always been something distant about her --- something dream-like. She had never truly managed to fit in with the usual crowd. Whenever Jack spoke at the meetings, she had always managed to separate herself from the mob, standing in an isolated corner of her own.  
  
Everyone knew her. The inventor's daughter. The strange, dreamy lass that spoke as little as possible. And yet nobody seemed particularly inclined to really *know* her. Looking back, Jack didn't understand why he himself hadn't made the effort. At the end of the day, he supposed, it hadn't really seemed important at the time.  
  
But oh --- when he had looked into her eyes after saving Santy Claws --- it was as though all of the pieces of the puzzle were suddenly fitting together. After all his years of searching, the yawning hole in his chest was filled. Contentment, warm and aching, had swelled through his boney body like nothing he had ever felt before. After all his years of searching --- all the hopeless nights of dreaming --- and the thing that had haunted him was something as simple as a look from a pretty girl.  
  
Jack Skellington had no shortage of ladies fawning after him. Hags, gorgons, she-vampires, banshees --- he could have had his pick from any of them. He had been consistently voted 'most eligible male' by the She- Monsters Association every year for almost a bicentennial. He only had to walk into a room and the Witches would start crooning over him. But, somehow, he had never gone for any of them. He just wasn't interested.  
  
And now he knew why.  
  
"Oh Sally."  
  
Jack stretched a hand out to the moon, as though trying to pluck it out of the sky. Sighing distantly, his eyelids slid over their empty sockets, closing briefly as he contemplated the previous night's events.  
  
Rushing to the fight with Oogy-boogie, so many thoughts had rushed through his mind. The need to save Santy Claws --- the anticipation mingled with fear of the coming battle --- and Sally. Yes, he had thought of Sally perhaps more than anything else. Her plaintive screams had burned through his heart like no physical wound ever could have.  
  
Strange.  
  
And then, later, when they had stood together in Oogy-boogie's basement, a slow realization seemed to come over him. The only feeling that he could liken it too was as if awaking from a long sleep. She was still the same Sally he had known for all those years --- and yet something had changed. Maybe it wasn't even her. Maybe it was him. Whatever it was, when looking down at her doll-like features and knowing the bravery that she had shown -- -  
  
It had been a very special feeling.  
  
Then, on this very hilltop, they had kissed for the first time. He had been surprised that out of all the places in Halloween Town, she had chosen this place to go and think. He wondered briefly how many times she had come here to dream her nights away. As many as him? It was a possibility.  
  
Despite being a skeleton, Jack was perfectly capable of experiencing feeling. And when her lips had brushed against his, his whole world has ceased to exist. There had been nothing, nothing but Sally. And, strangely, he had felt a sense of completion such as he had never known before. After all his years of searching, the one thing that he had longed for had been in front of him the whole time.  
  
The truth was, he was in love with Sally. Perhaps he had always been in love with her. Maybe it had only started at that moment. It didn't matter either way, he was in love with her now, and he was never going to let that feeling go.  
  
A soft tread of footsteps beside him made the pumpkin kind turn his head suddenly. It was Sally.  
  
"Mind if I join you?"  
  
He raised himself hurriedly from his elbows, grinning shyly. "Sally." He gestured a pale hand to the patch of ground beside him. "Please, make yourself comfortable."  
  
The red-haired girl moved to stand next to him. Seating herself delicately, she kept her eyes lowered timidly, smoothing her ragged skirt over her bare legs. There was a short moment of silence between them.  
  
"I had trouble sleeping," she admitted quietly after a beat.  
  
Jack hesitated, then shuffled a little closer. He was encouraged that she didn't move away. "I know. Me neither."  
  
"It's the full moon. I can never sleep on a full moon."  
  
"Hmm --- me too. It seems like such a shame to sleep away on a night like this."  
  
Sally picked gently at the hem of her skirt. "It is very beautiful."  
  
He gave a thoughtful nod, gaze resting at her down turned face. He smiled. "Yes --- very beautiful."  
  
She glanced upwards, surprised by his comment, catching his eye. She swallowed and looked away, a faint blush creeping into her dead cheeks. Neither spoke. Some things didn't need words.  
  
"Sally?"  
  
A ghost of a breeze ran through her hair, sending it drifting in scarlet waves over her shoulder. "Yes Jack?"  
  
There was a pause.  
  
"Do you think that you could ever love me?"  
  
His words were spoken softly, voice lowered to a questioning murmur. Sally looked upward, mouth pulled into a curve of amusement.  
  
"Jack --- I've always loved you." Her blush deepened with this confession, smile broadening self-consciously. "Didn't you know?"  
  
He shook his head mutely. "I guess I do now."  
  
"I used to come up here and watch you from behind the graves. You were always so sad."  
  
The black-clad skeleton shuffled even closer. Their sides were now pressing against each other - Jack could feel her warm body through the fabric of his coat. Such a simple pleasure, but one that meant a lot.  
  
"That was because I didn't have you," he told her, not wholly untruthfully.  
  
Sally gave a low laugh. "Cute." She gently rested her head against his boney shoulder, shifting her weight until she leaned against him. She gave a contented sigh as his arm wound around her slender waist, holding his fingers softly between her own.  
  
Jack leaned his head against hers, closing his eyes. "And it doesn't matter to you --- that I'm not Santy Claws anymore?"  
  
"Red wasn't your color."  
  
He grinned. "You know what I mean."  
  
Sally glanced up at him. "Jack, I don't care about you being Santy Claws -- - I don't even care about you being the Pumpkin King." Her fingers traced lightly over his own, making his bones tingle pleasantly. "I fell in love with the Jack that I used to see in the graveyard. The lonely dreamer that used to sit and stare at the moon for hours on end. That's the man who I love."  
  
He smiled and lightly kissed her hair. "Sally?"  
  
"Yes Jack?"  
  
"I love you."  
  
Sally snuggled down closer in his arms. A warm, sleepy contentment washed over her at hearing those three little words. "I love you too, Jack."  
  
They were so alike - he could see that now. Both dreamers --- both lost and longing for something greater than themselves. Strange how something that could change your life could creep up on you without you even noticing it. Two days before, Jack Skellington had seen Sally as a friend. Now he was holding her to his heart as though it were the most natural thing in the world.  
  
Funny how life worked sometimes.  
  
Zero watched the two for a while in silence, then drifted away down the hill to find his grave and turn in for the night. He knew that they probably wanted to be alone. Still, before he settled in for the night, he cast a final lingering glance over his shoulder. His tail wagged happily.  
  
Two figures were silhouetted against the golden moon. Resting against each other on the crest of a hill, the rest of Halloween Town might not have even existed as far as they were aware. All that mattered was that after so long of searching, they had finally found what they were looking for. Each other.  
  
Time went on, as it has a habit of doing. Eventually, the night would give way to the day, and both Jack and Sally would be forced to part. Not just yet though. For the time being, they were content simply to sit in silence and enjoy the moonlight. It was the way it was meant to be.  
  
If he had been able to, Zero might well have smiled.  
  
He passed into his grave, leaving the two lovers alone. 


End file.
